Indianapolis—
A Wayne Township student is facing criminal charges, after a scuffle involving a teacher at Sanders School, a school for students with special behavioral needs. The incident occurred Tuesday at the school at 4730 Gadsden on the city's southwest side.The boy, 17-year-old Jerry McKinney, told Fox59 News that he acted in self-defense, when 29-year-old art teacher Rob Keeler grabbed his wrist. The boy said it all started when he grabbed a folder the teacher thought belonged to someone else.
"All I was trying to do was defend myself," McKinney said. "I picked it up, the teacher took it out of my hands when I went to grab for it, he grabbed my arm. When he grabbed me, flight or fight."
In the police report, Officer James Davidson wrote he saw the student "punch his teacher in the face with a closed clenched fist" and "sustained swelling and redness on his lower left chin and lip area" and had pain in his ear from hitting the floor." At no time did he witness the teacher touch the student.
McKinney was arrested and charged with battery. When he got out of juvenile detention, his father took pictures of his son's arm. Pictures he said shows the pressure of the teacher's grip. The school's assistant principal couldn't comment on the matter. McKinney's mother says Jerry is bi-polar but is non violent and did had to defend himself.
"He hit him, he has to pay the price for that," said Holly McKinney, the boy's mother. "We are making no excuses. We are zero-tolerance in our home but when the teacher grabbed him and hurt his wrist, it's self-defense."
Last December, the Sanders School had a problem when a security officer tried to stop a student and tackled him in a scuffle the boy's family said left him with a broken hip. Wayne Township School spokesperson Mary McDermott-Lang said the officer in that case was not the same in the one involving McKinney. On their website, the school describes annual training teachers get in non-violent ways to intervene in a crisis. McDermott-Lang said the teacher was fine and back at school Thursday. McKinney has been suspended until Monday. He is expected to be in court on Friday.
MSD of Wayne Township issued the following statement to Fox59 News regarding the student's self-defense claim:
"The allegation that a student at Sanders School was acting in self-defense in punching a teacher is completely unsubstantiated in a police report on the incident. The security officer working at the school who witnessed the incident stated that he at no time observed the teacher touching the student."
